The concept of King
Arthur's Capital is epitomised by the medieval Camelot, yet some of the
earliest references to his court refer instead to the City of Celliwig, a
name now associated with Killibury in Egloshayle, Cornwall.

The Tradition:
According to the Mabinogion tale of Culhwch & Olwen, King
Arthur's Royal Palace was at Celliwig in Cornwall. From here, one of his
Warband, Drem, could see a gnat as far away as Scotland; while another,
Medyr, could shoot an arrow through the legs of a wren in Ireland! The Welsh
Triads tell how "Medrod came to Arthur's Court at Celliwig in Cerniw;
he left neither food nor drink in the court that he did not consume. And he
dragged Gwenhwyfar from her Royal chair, and then he struck a blow upon
her". They, furthermore, state that this place was one of the
"Three Tribal Thrones of the Island of Britain":

"Arthur as Chief
Prince in Mynyw (or Aberffraw), and Dewi as Chief Bishop, and Męlgwn
Gwynedd as Chief Elder;
Arthur as Chief Prince in Celliwig in Cerniw, and Bishop Bytwini as Chief
Bishop, and Caradog Freichfras as Chief Elder;
Arthur as Chief Prince in Pen Rhionydd in the North, and Gerthmwl Wledig as
Chief Elder, and Cyndeyrn Garthwys as Chief Bishop."

Modern Archaeology:
Castle Killibury or Kelly Rounds is a small banked and ditched fort with a
defended Eastern entrance. Lesser associated earthworks stand both to the
North and the South. It may be either of Iron or Dark Age Construction.
Small-scale excavations have uncovered several sherds of imported
Mediterranean pottery from the latter period, indicating that the site was,
at least, refortified during the 5th and 6th centuries.

Possible
Interpretations: The site of
Celliwig has many Cornish claimants: Callington, Callywith, Gweek Wood,
Barras Nose and Willapark. A place called Celliwig certainly once existed in
Cerniw as a Cornishman named Thomas de Kellewik is recorded in 1302.
Opinion, however, varies as to whether this can be identified as the Caellwic
which St. Dunstan
records as having been given to the Diocese of Sherborne, by King Egbert, in
830. Killibury's parish, Egloshayle, is supposedly named after the Church-of-St.Hail,
a son of King Brychan of Brycheiniog
(though this is too disputed). It is less impressive than other
supposed Royal Dark Age sites from Western Britain. However, pottery imports
from the Middle East would still indicate an important chief lived there. An
Arthurian association seems unlikely though and, using the Welsh Triad
entry, Barber
and Pykitt suggest an alternative site for Celliwig: the hillfort of
Llanmelin, near Caerwent, previously called Llan-y-Gelli. For, unlike the
other two Tribal Thrones, Celliwig is associated with men from
outside the area in which it is generally supposed to have lain. Bishop
Bydwini may have been an early Bishop
of Glywysing who gave his name to the Bedwin Sands, off the Gwent
Coast. Caradog Freichfras is, of course,
the notorious King of Gwent. Both are men of South Wales, and this Barber
and Pykitt site as evidence that Gwent was part of an area known, like
Cornwall, as Cernyw! The idea is well argued but lacks substance.